The Visible Church

April 6, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Fifty-eight years ago this weekend, on April 4, 1968, just after 6pm on a balcony of the Lorraine Motel in Memphis, TN, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was cut down by an assassin’s bullet. A powerful voice in the struggle for civil rights for African Americans was silenced, and yet his legacy still lives on more than a half-century later. 

A couple of days ago, we remembered another historic death: the crucifixion of Jesus of Nazareth. But unlike Dr. King, today we also celebrate the resurrection of Jesus from the dead! 

Does it matter that Jesus was raised back to life? If Dr. King’s legacy can still live on in the life of his followers, even though his body is in the grave, couldn’t the same thing happen for the followers of Jesus of Nazareth? The answer, quite simply, is “No!” This is because Jesus claimed that His kingdom was an eternal Kingdom, and that He came to bring people eternal life (John 3:16). If the Founder of this Kingdom could be held in the grave, what would His followers have to look forward to? Paul said this in 1 Corinthians 15:17-19. 

(I’m not going to take the time to go through all the evidence for the resurrection of Jesus here, but I would encourage you to check out our series A.L.I.V.E. 

We have named this series after a statement from Jesus, “I will build My Church.” He made this statement before His death and before His resurrection, which tells us that He knew the outcome before those events even occurred. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

Look how Paul concludes that the resurrection of Jesus is what gives meaning to the terms “saints” and “Church” in Ephesians 1:15-23. Our faith in what Jesus did for us on the Cross—namely, paying the penalty for our sins—is what justifies us, allowing us to be called saints (2:4-5). Notice how saints are to now live (2:6-10). 

Look at those two phrases: “saved…not by works” and “created…to do good works.” As my friend T.M. Moore noted, “We are not saved by good works, but we’re not truly saved without them.” Good works is what characterized the earthly ministry of Jesus (Acts 10:38), and good works are what His saints are now freed and empowered to do (Romans 7:4; 1 Peter 2:12). 

Paul goes on to say that saints are who make up the Church of Jesus (Ephesians 2:14-22). The Church is not a building, but saints following the example of Jesus to make the Kingdom of God known in the world (Acts 4:32-35). 

A hundred years later, Aristides wrote a letter to Emperor Hadrian about these saints (who were now known as Christians): 

     “They help those who offend them, making friends of them; do good to their enemies. They don’t adore idols; they are kind, good, modest, sincere, they love one another; don’t despise widows; protect the orphans; those who have much give without grumbling, to those in need. When they meet strangers, they invite them to their homes with joy, for they recognize them as true brothers, not natural but spiritual. When a poor man dies, if they become aware, they contribute according to their means for his funeral; if they come to know that some people are persecuted or sent to prison or condemned for the sake of Christ’s name, they put their alms together and send them to those in need. If they can do it, they try to obtain their release. When a slave or a beggar is in need of help, they fast two or three days, and give him the food they had prepared for themselves, because they think that he too should be joyful, as he has been called to be joyful like themselves.” 

Jesus is the eternally-living Founder of His Church, and those who have had their sins forgiven by their faith in His death and resurrection are the living stones of His Church (1 Peter 2:5). 

Coming to the Cross makes us saints. Making the Savior known by the way we live makes us the Church. 

We can’t do this unless Jesus is alive and actively empowering us (Matthew 28:18-20). 

Let me reiterate what my friend wrote, because this is how saints should live: “We are not saved by good works, but we’re not truly saved without them.” 

The resurrection of Jesus makes it possible for us to not only be delivered from trying to earn our salvation by doing good works, but to be empowered to do good works so that we compel others want to know Jesus for themselves. 

As the saints go, so goes the Church. 

Check out all of the messages in this series “I will build My Church” by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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What Does That Mean?

March 30, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

In one of my favorite movies—The Princess Bride—one character believe himself to be very smart. In fact, Vizzini considers Plato, Aristotle, and Socrates to be morons compared to his massive intelligence. But in one section of the movie he keeps using a singular word over and over again, until Inigo says to him, “You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means!” Sometimes I wonder if this is what people want to say to Christians! 

Every family has its own unique lexicon—words and phrases mean something to them that they don’t mean to others. Every industry has shorthand for its products and services. Every friend group has their own inside jokes. And we Christians are just as guilty. 

  • Sometimes instead of saying, “Yes” we say, “Amen.” 
  • Instead of calling someone, “Mr. or Mrs.” we call them, “Brother or Sister.” 
  • We soften some of our stronger language by saying, “I’m grieved in my spirit,” instead of saying more honestly, “I’m really ticked off!” 
  • And sometimes, to sound super-spiritual when we pray, we begin to speak in Old English. 

Is it any wonder that people outside of our church circles sometimes look at us like we’re a bit off? 

So what do we mean by calling ourselves “Christian”? This was not the preferred name for followers of Jesus in the early Church: 

  • Saints—60x (only 4x in Acts)
  • Believers—43x (26x in Acts) 
  • Disciples—24x (all in Acts) 
  • Christian—3x 

The word originates in Acts 11:19-26 (v. 19 references the persecution of 8:1). The Greek language follows the Roman pattern of adding “ian” to the name of a great leader whom others were following. King Agrippa used this word in Acts 26:28, showing us how it has gained traction. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures in this post by clicking here.)

Christ is not a proper name, nor is it the surname of Jesus. Christ means the anointed One. So it’s more correct for us to say, “Jesus the Christ” (as in John 1:41). 

So to be a Christian is to follow the Anointed One. To believe that He died to pay the penalty for our sins, and that He rose to life again to give us His eternal life. 

To be a Christian is to live like Jesus, or to live as His ambassadors (2 Corinthians 5:11-21). 

To be a Christian is to continue to live like Jesus even in the face of opposition (1 Peter 4:12-16; 2:21-23; 3:13-17). 

Christians are being the Church when they are intentionally living in a way that makes Jesus known as the Christ—the One and Only Anointed One. 

Some excellent questions for Christians to ponder: 

  • What do you mean when you say, “I am a Christian”? 
  • Do others see and hear Jesus in what you do and say? 
  • Does your verbal confession and lifestyle confession compel others to come to Jesus? 

Let’s make sure our lives are the best definition of what the Bible says a Christian truly is! 

Check out all of the other messages in this series by clicking here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Our Cornerstone

March 23, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Last week we saw that the essential confession is not just, “I believe You are the Christ the Son of the living God,” but also, “I will take up my cross and follow You!” (Matthew 16:16-18, 24). Notice that these are “red letter words”—words spoken by Jesus. They are not “they say” words (like v. 14; Matthew 7:21-23). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures I use in this post by clicking here.)

Look at the very next red letter words in Matthew 7:24-27. Notice the two parts: hears and puts them into practice. That’s our verbal and our lifestyle confession. What are we hearing and putting into practice? “These words of Mine.” 

Jesus is our Cornerstone. The dictionary defines this as, “something that is essential, indispensable; the chief foundation on which something is constructed or developed.” 

Some sandy things to build your life upon: 

  • what your family practiced 
  • what your pastor preached 
  • what your friends believe 

You know how you will know how sure your foundation is? When the storms come! I recently heard a well-known scholar and Christian apologist in an interview. He was asked by a skeptic of Christianity if he had doubts, and he responded, “Sure, I have doubts. But I choose to believe what the Bible says.” And I thought, “How sad to live this way.” We have a reliable, unshakable foundation in Jesus (2 Corinthians 1:18-22; 1 Corinthians 15:58). 

Religions and philosophies have come and gone. 

Spiritual giants have stumbled, and fierce tyrants have growled and then died. 

Traditions and societies have changed through the millennia. 

But the red letter words of Jesus stand firm through every season and storm (2 Timothy 2:19). 

Our Cornerstone remains unmovable and we can stand on Him unshaken. This foundation…

  • …was prophesied—Isaiah 28:16; Psalm 118:22 
  • …was fulfilled—Matthew 21:42; Acts 4:11-12 
  • …is still standing today—Ephesians 2:19-20; 1 Peter 2:4-6 
  • …will still be standing for all eternity—Revelation 21:5; John 14:1-4 

So there is no need to be afraid. There is no need to get frustrated. There is no need to engage in meaningless debates with the “they say” crowd. Stand firm on the red letter words—our Cornerstone. 

“On Christ the solid rock I stand, all other ground is sinking sand!” 

Check out all of the other messages in this “I Will Build My Church” series here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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The Essential Confession

March 16, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Last week we talked about biblical beliefs carrying more weight that non-biblical or extra-biblical beliefs. Christians must stand firm on God’s Word to give biblical meaning to everything we say and do, otherwise we lose the true meaning of essential terms like Church and Christian. That means there are words we need to let go, and there is the Word for which we must stand without wavering or backing down. 

Have you heard people make the “They say” claim? “Well, they say you said…,” “They say that Christians are…,” or “They say that Jesus said or did…” It’s always a good idea to get to the source of these statements. 

This is what Jesus did in Matthew 16:13-14. Jesus asked His followers about the “they say” claims they had heard, especially in light of what Jesus had already addressed in Matthew 11:18-19. 

(Check out all of the Scriptures I use in this post by clicking here.) 

Matthew 16:15 is a great question to ask others: What do you think of Jesus? By asking this question and truly listening to the answer, you may just be able to uncover some non-biblical “they say” thinking that you can help correct. 

But this verse is also a great question for us to ask of ourselves! Why? Because there is a huge difference between a verbal confession and a lifestyle confession. Look at vv. 16-23 to see the difference between Peter’s verbal confession in verse 16 and his lifestyle confession in verse 22. 

John may have had this exchange in mind when he wrote 1 John 1:5-10. Notice John’s contrast between the verbal confession (“If we claim”) and our lifestyle confession. Listen: Demons can make a verbal confession (Luke 4:41) but they will be confined in Hell for eternity (Matthew 25:41). In the same way, religious people can make a verbal confession and walk out a completely opposite lifestyle confession (Matthew 7:21-23). 

A lifestyle confession can either amplify or cancel a verbal confession. 

Jesus loved Peter’s verbal confession, but then He gave us a lifestyle confession in Matthew 16:24-28. 

The essential confession is not just, “I believe You are the Christ the Son of the living God,” but also, “I will take up my cross and follow You!” 

We lose our life when we live for Jesus’ words (“I will build My Church”) and not living for “they say” words. As Brennan Manning sad, “The greatest single cause of atheism in the world today is Christians: who acknowledge Jesus with their lips, walk out the door, and deny Him by their lifestyle. That is what an unbelieving world simply finds unbelievable.” 

So let’s ask others, “What do you think of Jesus?” But let’s also ask ourselves that question. Let’s make sure that our verbal confession is being amplified by our lifestyle confession. Ask the Holy Spirit to search your vocabulary and your lifestyle. A great prayer for this is in Psalm 139:23-24. 

If you’ve missed any of the messages in our series “I Will Build My Church”, you can find them all here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Links & Quotes

March 7, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Is it possible for you to accurately judge whether or not you are being honest with yourself? Probably not. You need something or someone else to help you see yourself clearly.

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

“The Christian optimism is based on the fact that we do not fit in to the world. … That is what makes life at once so splendid and so strange. We are in the wrong world. When I thought that was the right town, it bored me; when I knew it was wrong, I was happy. So the false optimism, the modern happiness, tires us because it tells us we fit into this world. The true happiness is that we don’t fit. We come from somewhere else.” —G.K. Chesterton 

“It is easy enough to remove the particular kinds of graft or bullying that go on under the present system: but as long as men are twisters or bullies they will find some new way of carrying on the old game under the new system. You cannot make men good by law: and without good men you cannot have a good society.” —C.S. Lewis 

Del Tarr’s life “embodied a simple conviction: to preach Christ well, one must first listen and learn well.” Tarr was a missionary and a linguist. His legacy is empowering for all Christians, not just those missionaries who minister in other countries. 

The ICR reports, “According to the online Smithsonian magazine, ‘The calls and songs of some species in these groups [parrots, songbirds, and hummingbirds] appear to have even more in common with human language, such as conveying information intentionally and using simple forms of some of the elements of human language such as phonology, semantics and syntax.’” There are numerous corroborating studies that tell of the complex language of birds that never could have developed by chance, but were designed by an all-wise Creator. 

“In Biblical times, farmers would put olives in the trough of a stone olive press, and then roll the large, heavy circular stone over them. The enormous weight of the stone crushed the olives, allowing the oil inside to pour out through a spout cut into the stone. The first pass of the heavy stone produced the most precious, pure drops of olive oil. This oil was extremely expensive and was used to anoint kings. In Hebrew, this sort of olive press is called a ‘gat shemanim’ (גתשמנים pronounced ‘geth-sem-uh-nim’), which we translate in English as ‘gethsemane.’ Sound familiar?” —Dave Adamson [see Mark 14:32-36] 

“To overcome the world takes faith and faith comes when we hear the Word quickened by the Holy Spirit. Be faithful in prayer and reading your Bible. It sounds like a Sunday school answer, but it is quite literally the application for every verse in the Bible.” —YouVersion reading plan Uncommen: Holy Connection 

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“I Will Build My Church”

March 5, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Church is just a meaningless term, and a church building is merely a clubhouse in which some people occasionally gather, if the resurrection of Jesus is a myth. Even if you accept the resurrection of Jesus as a fact, unless Christ’s resurrection power is the motivating force for your life, you run the risk of living as a hypocrite. 

The resurrection of Jesus is more than just a day to celebrate, it’s paradigm-shaping, life-empowering, culture-changing power for every single day that you are on earth. Unless those who call themselves Christians fully grasp this and live it out, they will be operating far below what the Bible has outlined for them. 

In this series we will allow the Bible to show us what Jesus truly said about His Church and His saints, as opposed to what culture has told us these terms mean. I hope you can join me!

Check out these sermons:

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11 Quotes From “Real Christianity”

February 25, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Slavery abolitionist William Wilberforce wrote a powerful book 200+ years ago that sounds like it could have been written today! Here are just a handful of the numerous passages I highlighted in Real Christianity. Be sure to check out my full book review here. 

“What a difference it would be if our system of morality were based on the Bible instead of the standards devised by cultural Christians.” 

“The Bible is one of God’s greatest gifts to humanity. It tells us of the greatest gift that men and women have longed for throughout the ages and of which the prophets spoke about for centuries.” 

“Even the majority of professing Christians tend to think that the nature of humanity is basically good and is only thrown off course by the power of temptation. They believe that sin and evil are the exception, not the rule. The Bible paints a much different picture. The language of Scripture is not for the faint of heart. It teaches that man is an apostate creature, fallen from his original innocence, degraded in his nature, depraved in his thinking, prone toward evil, not good, and impacted by sin to the very core of his being.” 

“Not that the Bible needs affirmation, but the world around us demonstrates that there is a kind of sowing and reaping that affirms the destructive nature of ignoring the things the Bible teaches.” 

“When we do not take our problem seriously, we do not seek the solution God offers with the measure of sincerity and intensity that our true condition requires. If we don’t understand how seriously ill we are, we don’t pursue the remedy with the required diligence. If we are slightly ill, we take an aspirin. If we are dying, we passionately pursue a cure. The cure is not forced on us; it is offered to us.” 

“The appropriate response to these facts would be one of great excitement, true humility, hatred of sin, humble hope, firm faith, heavenly joy, ardent love and unceasing gratitude! But here is where we find a problem with the experience of those who hold to a cultural Christianity. … Cultural Christians might talk about religion or church in generic terms, but you will rarely hear them use the name of Jesus or speak of His death on the cross or His resurrection. … Cultural Christians probably have no understanding of the work of the Spirit in the life of the believer. Since they do not strive for effectiveness in their own spiritual lives or attempt to live with character consistent with followers of Christ, they have no experience of their own inability to achieve such things without the Holy Spirit’s help.” 

“Authentic faith will often be accompanied by an appropriate zeal. But zeal can often be devoid of any accurate understanding of authentic faith. The product of such zeal is often justified in the name of Christianity, but in reality it has virtually nothing to do with believing in Jesus Christ.” 

“Our inability is our great asset; it creates a humility that becomes dependent on God’s grace working in us.” 

“It is virtually impossible to get to the place where you recognize your need for the Spirit and depend upon His working when you have created a safe religiosity that is perfectly manageable by means of your own abilities.” 

“Authentic Christianity is a way for the most wayward of men and women to enter into a right relationship with God based solely on the fact that ‘while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us’ (Romans 5:8, KJV). They have confused the outcome of getting right with God with the means of getting right with Him. Only when we have come empty-handed to the foot of the Cross and cried out for God’s mercy and grace, and been reborn by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit, can we even begin to live the life to which God calls us. Some seem to think that Christ has made it possible for them to be right with God because His death has somehow lowered God’s standards to the level of their performance.” 

“It makes no sense to take the name of Christian and not cling to Christ. Jesus is not some magic charm to wear like a piece of jewelry we think will give us good luck.”

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Delight In Your Duty

February 23, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

If anyone is known for attentively doing their duty, it is the members of our military. Duty is drilled into them over and over and over. Civilians could learn a lesson from this. We tend to be reward-motivated, that is to say, if we feel some sort of reward for our effort, we may stick to our commitment. But duty-bound soldiers stick to their commitment regardless of how they feel or what the circumstances are. 

We need to be especially on guard against Christian duties that seem to be thankless, or else we may forget about doing them or do them only reluctantly. 

Some of you might be saying, “‘Christian’ and ‘duty’ doesn’t sound right in the same sentence. Isn’t everything we do for Jesus supposed to be delightful?” Paul said to Timothy, “Join with me in suffering, like a good soldier of Christ Jesus” (2 Timothy 2:3). 

(Check out all of the Scriptures I use in this post by clicking here.)

And listen to these words from Jesus—

     Suppose one of you has a servant plowing or looking after the sheep. Will he say to the servant when he comes in from the field, “Come along now and sit down to eat”? Won’t he rather say, “Prepare my supper, get yourself ready and wait on me while I eat and drink; after that you may eat and drink”? Will he thank the servant because he did what he was told to do? So you also, when you have done everything you were told to do, should say, “We are unworthy servants; we have only done our duty.” (Luke 17:7-10) 

Why does the military drill the idea of duty into every soldier? Because doing your duty is indispensable to success in battle! 

In the New Testament, we meet three Roman soldiers who did their duty. Only one that we know of became a follower of Jesus, yet all three were pivotal for two key leaders in the early Church. These Roman soldiers were important because doing their duty helped Peter and Paul get where God had called them. 

Peter—Jesus called on Peter to be one of the foundational leaders of the Church (Matthew 16:18). But Peter never stepped fully into this role until a Roman centurion named Cornelius did his duty. 

In Acts 10:1-7 we meet Cornelius who followed the command of an angel without question, just as a dutiful soldier would. This dutiful act helped Peter understand what God was calling him to do (10:15-16, 22-28), and then helped him explain what the rest of the Church was supposed to do (11:18; 15:7-11). 

Paul—Lysias was the commander of the Roman garrison in Jerusalem. He saved Paul from literally being torn limb-from-limb by an angry mob, and then he safely transported Paul to Caesarea to avoid the assassins who were laying in wait to ambush Paul (Acts 21-22). 

Then when Paul was being sent to stand trail before Emperor Nero, a centurion named Julius also went to extraordinary lengths to see that Paul made it safely to Rome (Acts 27). 

All three of these Roman soldiers were merely doing their duty—obey orders from their commanding officers—but their dutiful service allowed Peter and Paul to get to the places where God needed them to be. 

Earlier I asked if the Christian life was supposed to be delightful. It may not be delightful here, but doing our duty may be tough at times. Paul said he rejoiced in the difficulties (2 Corinthians 12:10). 

Truly, doing our duty here is noticed by our Commander and King. Allow me to paraphrase Matthew 25:21 for the reward that Jesus gives those saintly soldiers who do their duty—

Our Commander will reply, “Well done, good and dutiful servant! You have been faithful with a few things; I will put you in charge of many things. Come and share your master’s happiness!” 

Do your duty—for your sake, for the benefit of others, and for the glory of our King. 

If you’ve missed any of the other messages in this series called The Lord’s Army, you can find them all here. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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Links & Quotes

February 21, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Christians never have to be at a loss of which way to go. We can yield to our GPS—God’s Personal Spirit in us!

I have a lot of new video content on my YouTube channel every week. Please check it out and subscribe so you don’t miss anything.

A cold-case detective examines the universe as he would a crime scene. “The universe is an incredibly complex, finely tuned environment—so precise that carbon-based life like ours can exist at all. This point isn’t just made by those who believe in God; it’s widely recognized, even by critics and naturalists who try to account for the remarkable, razor-edge calibration of cosmological constants like the weak and strong nuclear forces, as well as electromagnetism. These are set within the narrowest tolerances. Just a slight deviation, and our universe would not be capable of sustaining life—yet, here we are.”

In The Screwtape Letters, C.S. Lewis gives these words to Screwtape about politics: “About the general connection between Christianity and politics, our position is more delicate. Certainly we do not want men to allow their Christianity to flow over into their political life, for the establishment of anything like a really just society would be a major disaster. On the other hand we do want, and want very much, to make men treat Christianity as a means; preferably, of course, as a means to their own advancement, but, failing that, as a means to anything—even to social justice.”

A Christian brother or sister says or does something just a little “off.” How do you respond? “Now you’re pretty sure you should say something. But you’re also busy. Or you think someone else might be in a better position to bring it up. Or you hate uncomfortable conversations. (Or all of the above.) So you convince yourself to stay quiet.” Scott Hubbard shows us from Scripture why staying silent is not an option for Christians who love each other.

“According to Big Bang cosmology, we should be seeing these very distant galaxies, not as they are now, but as they were shortly after the Big Bang. Since star and galaxy formation should take many millions of years, theorists were not expecting to see many galaxies in the ‘early’ universe, and those that did exist were expected to be unevolved and immature. Yet data from the James Webb Space Telescope have been shattering these Big Bang expectations.” Check out this astronomical evidence that points to an all-wise Creator.

“Metabolomics is the study of chemical processes involving small molecules that were part of fats, proteins, amino acids, and nucleic acids.” This study has recently been applied to fossilized bones that have been excavated. The results: “Tiny chemical clues trapped inside ancient bones are revealing what animals ate, the diseases they carried, and the environments they lived in.”

“[God] unrolls before Job a long panorama of created things, the horse, the eagle, the raven, the wild ass, the peacock, the ostrich, the crocodile. He so describes each of them that it sounds like a monster walking in the sun. The whole is a sort of psalm or rhapsody of the sense of wonder. The Maker of all things is astonished at the things He has Himself made. This we may call the third point. Job puts forward a note of interrogation; God answers with a note of exclamation. Instead of proving to Job that it is an explicable world, He insists that it is a much stranger world than Job ever thought it was.” —G.K. Chesterton 

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Real Christianity (book review)

February 11, 2026 — Craig T. Owens

Listen to the podcast of this post by clicking on the player below, and you can also subscribe on Apple, Spotify, or Audible. 

Does this sound familiar? “We live in difficult times. Pray for this nation. We have all the marks of a declining civilization. Pray that the God who hears and answers the prayers of His people might intervene on behalf of our country and bring a spiritual renewal that might save the nation.” 

What if I told you that an esteemed and influential politician wrote this? 

What if I told you that he wrote this in 1797? 

The politician was England’s William Wilberforce, the man who tirelessly led the crusade to abolish the British slave trade, but the topics he addressed in Real Christianity sound as though they are topics that we are still wrestling with today. 

Throughout this book, Wilberforce contrasts the many ways that cultural Christianity—or people who are Christian in name only—differ from the real Christianity that is outlined in the pages of the Bible. Wilberforce wrote, “I find it necessary to affirm that the problems we face nationally and internationally are a direct result of the decline of faith and morality in our nation. My only hope of a prosperous future for this country rests not on the size and firepower of our military, nor on the wisdom of its leaders, nor on the spirit of her people, but only on the love and obedience of the people who name themselves after Christ, that their prayers might be heard and for the sake of these, God might look upon us with favor.” 

I found this book encouraging, in that I can see how human nature has remained the same and that the answers we so desperately seek are still found in the Holy Bible. 

I also found this book convicting, as Wilberforce continually challenged me to review my own life to ensure I wasn’t unknowingly slipping into a cultural Christian mindset. I was also confronted by the numerous calls to prayer that Wilberforce made throughout this book. 

It’s a relatively short read, but it is power-packed. I recommend Real Christianity to anyone who is frustrated by the state of affairs in our nation, and is desperate to see a true return to the biblical values of Christianity. 

►► Would you please prayerfully consider supporting this ministry? My Patreon supporters get behind-the-scenes access to exclusive materials. ◀︎◀︎

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